A Kind of Elegance
by mariah.artist
Summary: “Konan, you were right! And she has your beautiful eyes, my love.” he smiled for the first time in months, and handed her into Konan's open arms.
1. Chapter 1

**From Nothing to Something**

The day woke gently crossing the sky and cooing back the stars. Konan opened her eyes from her slumber in bed to see Pein standing near a window seal across from her bed. "Good morning," she breathed. Pein looked back at her and nodded. "How are you feeling this morning?" he breathed. He continued to stare out into the distance of the horizon.

Konan rubbed her belly gently and smiled warmly. She was four weeks over due. "I think she's awake, would you like to--" Pein whipped his head back and gave her a look to cut off her sentence. "There's an intruder, someone has disturbed the rain. Hurry, hide your stomach." he demanded in a quiet tone. Konan grabbed the sheets and blankets from the bed and swirled them around her entire body, that by the time Pein left the room, Tobi had entered casually. "I heard the news from Pein a few days ago. What is your choice for the child, Konan?" Konan brushed her blue-jay colored hair behind her ear out of habit and came up with an answer, "We're thinking about keeping her."

Tobi placed his hands on his hips and walked over to her. He was approaching her as a friend rather than her boss. "So it's a girl now? How do you know?" Konan held back a smile and said, "Because she feels like one. She's quite feistier than a boy should be."

He stretched out his hand to place it onto her belly, there was a kick in response, "Ah she is feisty! But you can't keep her here Konan. A baby will bring attention, even if you're hiding her!" he said. It wasn't the news Konan wanted to hear. "But..."

"Konan, I'll give you a deal. Five years you'll have with her, you'll raise her and show her our views of the world. But you can't keep her, Konan. Just because Pein and you got a little sexual in bed, doesn't mean she is to stay here. Our Akatsuki will do their best to protect her, but she will be a tool used against you and Pein. I know Pein has never lost a battle, but if your child shows up as a bargaining tool, I know Pein would give up everything for the child." Tobi instructed. He rubbed her belly again and left to stand in front of the window seal. Resuming Pein's position.

Hours later, Pein returned with blood on his hands. When he reached Konan's room, he saw she was still covering herself. "It's alright now, you can uncover your belly." Pein said. He walked to the window and placed both his hands out in the rain. Watching it swirl the blood off his fingers and arms. It took a few minutes, but it was beautiful to Tobi and Konan. The blood dripped from the tips of his fingers and into the street seventy feet below.

"Who was it?" Tobi asked. "A rogue from the tea country. He attempted to rob a few of our citizens." Pein stated.

Konan felt the baby settle in a comfort position, then suddenly, she felt water trickle down her thighs. "Oh my!" Konan whispered. Pein looked over at her, and his eyes widened with worry. "What's wrong,? Are you alright? Why are you leaking?" he rushed towards her to examine her thighs, then lifted her cloak past her hips and saw she was leaking between her legs. "She broke her water. We have to find a doctor to help her give birth." Tobi stated. He had been smiling under his mask. Now he would find if the child was a girl or not.

--

A doctor arrived minutes later, for Pein had hunted one down in the city itself and dragged the doctor up to the highest tower they lived in. The doctor went under the name of Dr. Helms and was of English decent. So his instructions were confusing when he positioned Konan with her legs spread out and sat her up ready to push. Her contractions were painful, and her shrieks were worse. Tobi had closed every window that was sound proof to avoid her screams from spreading outside their home. This was a quality tactic for avoiding interruptions or Anbu from other villages.

Konan pushed and pushed, but it was taking hours. Pein held her hand to ease her into the breathing. While Tobi paced behind the doctor in worry and a chance to cut the umbilical cord. Finally, the doctor said, "--_Alright Konan, the baby is crowning. I need you to push harder, and I will help to aide the baby out_.--"

She looked over at Pein in complete confusion, "I don't understand...WHAT—HE SAID!"

Pein shrugged his shoulders and told her to keep pushing and breathe evenly. Tobi looked over the doctor's shoulder and saw a head, but not the body yet. "It's coming out." he told them. Konan couldn't help but grin, she was almost there!

Then finally the baby was completely out, Tobi cut the cord, and the baby was wrapped around in an Akatsuki cloak Tobi lent as a special touch. The child was handed to Pein, while Konan collapsed into the bed. "--_It's a girl!_--" the doctor smiled. Pein looked at him with confusion, and lifted part of the clothe to figure out what gender the child was. "Konan, you were right! And she has your beautiful eyes, my love." he smiled for the first time in months, and handed her into Konan's open arms. She had lifted her self back up and felt the weight press into her arms. The girl looked up at her with squinting green eyes and wailed from confusion.

Pein directed the doctor out of the room, and suddenly clutched the doctor's esophagus with his fist, and tightened his grip. The doctor struggled and wiggled his arms and legs around that soon, he was released and dead on the ground. "I don't want word of Konan's child to spread." Pein stated to Tobi. Tobi nodded and walked up to Konan to looked into the child's eyes and noticed the girl didn't have Pein's rin'negan eyes. "Well, at least we know she will not be apart of Akatsuki when she's older." Tobi stated.

"What shall we call her, my love?" Pein asked kindly. He stepped in next to Konan and placed his chin on her shoulder looking down into their beautiful girl. "We shall call her Sakura, for she surpasses the beauty of every flower!" Konan whispered.

Author's note: Pein's name is spelled differently on then as fact from the series. So I'm going by the one this story will be listed under. Hope you like it!


	2. Chapter 2

**Nine Men and a Baby**

Two years had passed, and the secret of their little girl hadn't spread just yet. So Pein and Konan created another hide out inside a mountain to announce their daughter to the Akatsuki. They stood inside, waiting for them. Every so often Pein would check the rain then come back to a sleeping Sakura in Konan's arms. Then, two, three, five, and now nine members of the Akatsuki had arrived. They spread themselves in a circle standing alongside Konan and Pein. Orochimaru looked over at the baby and licked his lips. Everyone's eyes were on the baby, wondering what was going on. "Before I address the matter of your arrival, I want to say one thing. If I find out one of you spreads the word of my plan I will kill everyone you know or cared for. As well as kill everyone but Konan and the baby inside this cave. IS that clear to you all?" Pein ordered. Everyone shook their head in agreement but Konan and Pein.

"Two years ago, Konan became pregnant with a child. Our child, and we present her to you so you will keep a close watch on her when the time comes to end her life." Pein explained. Kisame looked up at Pein and said, "Why are you going to kill her?" Even Hidan put in, "What's her name?"

"Her name is Sakura, and I'll be killing her three years from now. So the most we're giving her, is a small part of happiness. Is that clear?" Pein said. Everyone shook their heads in agreement. Kakuzu put in as encouragement, "She's cute."

--

Three weeks later, Konan brought Sakura to another meeting. Sakura was awake by then, and began walking and falling down towards some of the Akatsuki. She walked towards Itachi first, and started playing with the end of his cloak like it was a toy. She giggled, when Itachi would move the end of his cloak as he spoke.

"Itachi, you made her laugh." Kisame joked. Itachi rolled his eyes and looked down at Sakura. He knelt down to her level and looked her in the eyes. "Hey, don't do a genjutsu on her Itachi, she's just a child." Kakuzu warned. Itachi muttered, "I'm not. I want to know why she was giggling."

Itachi watched her movements, she slowly walked towards him with her arms outstretched and a large grin on her face. "Aww how cute!" Kisame grinned. She was trying to hug Itachi. Instead, she hugged his face, and began playing and pulling his bangs. "Pppdddrreeeb!" she squealed. Itachi pulled her away from him and picked her up to hand to Kisame.

"Hey no! PUT HER DOWN!" Kisame glared. Then Sakura looked at Kisame and grinned again with her arms ready to fall onto his chest. Which was where she ended up, because Kisame held her with his arms, and was glaring at anyone who would make a joke or sneer. "Bwoo!" she spoke. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and started touching Kisame's face. "Bwoo!" Then she pointed at Itachi and said, "Icky!"

Hidan laughed, "Yes he is Icky!" Kisame smiled down at Sakura. He had a surprise for her, but wanted to wait till everyone was gone to give it to her. But he changed his mind and decided to give it to her now. He reached into his pocket while holding her with his other arm, and swooped out a small stuffed white bunny. "Here you go!" Kisame cooed. Kakuzu had covered Hidan's mouth shut from insults and laughter. Sasori smacked Deidara for chuckling. While Orochimaru stepped closer to Sakura with his arms out. "I'll hold her." he stated. Sakura held the bunny in her arms, then looked over at Orochimaru. She was frightened by him and began screaming at the top of her lungs when Kisame tried to hand her over to him. "BWOOO!" she shrieked.

Kisame was taken aback and instinctively took her back in his arms. She stopped screaming, and started grabbing at the edges of his cloak to hide. So he used his forearms to cover her and hold her gently instead. "I don't think she likes you!" Kisame joked. Orochimaru just rolled his eyes and flipped Kisame off. "Whatever, just hand her over so I can get a good look at her!" he snarled. Kisame was hesitant and didn't want to hand her over to him. For the first time in his life he felt protective of a human being. And not just any human being, a baby girl that wasn't his. "No I don't think so." He glared. He kept covering her up with his arms so she would calm down.

"it's ok, I got ya," he cooed to her. Hidan finally struggled free from Kakuzu's grasp and shouted, "YOU GAVE HER **A BUNNY**?! WHERE **THE FUCK** DID YOU GET THAT?! AW DID YOU MAKE IT FOR HER KISAME!? OH** BWOO**!!" Deidara suppressed his laughter as hard as he could, while Sasori strolled towards the new baby to get a better look. "Let me look at her. I won't harm her." Sasori was still in his **Hiruko** puppet form. For some reason Sakura didn't react the same with him as she did with Orochimaru. So Kisame slowly handed her over to Sasori.

She didn't reach her arms out into a hug form. She was hugging her new bunny when she looked up at him. Sasori stretched his arms out and held her weight in his own. His eyes changed from serious to a soft when he looked down at her growing smile. She lifted the cloth covering his nose and jaw, and saw the grooves into his chin that appeared to be a puppet. She started playing with the edges of his jaw in fixation.

--

Months after the members of Akatsuki, Orochimaru had abandoned them which left from nine to eight men surrounding little Sakura. They all grew attached to her in time. Sasori had built her wooden toys that made her giggle and laugh. Kakuzu would play hide and seek with her during his time looking over the accounting books. Hidan refrained from cursing around her because one day she said the words, "fuck you" to her own mother. Deidara would spend a few times a week helping her draw. Itachi rarely did the basics a brother would do. He played with her and helped her learn from right and wrong.

And last but not least, Kisame gave her the most affection she could ever receive from someone. He held her and tickled her. She became so trusting of him that Konan came up with the idea where the members would spend four days out of the month to babysit Sakura. Thankfully she really wasn't much of a handful. They carried her inside the breast of their cloaks when traveling, which rocked her to sleep. Then if they every got caught into a fight, one of the two wandering Akatsuki would hide Sakura away from the scene with a shadow clone. By the time she arrived home, Konan brought on a happy smile and bring her inside to do her motherly business. Pein was protective of Sakura, that if ever she was afraid he would do his best to hold her and show her how to be brave.

She received so much love from strangers and her own parents, that by the time she was three, everyone in Akatsuki, including Tobi, were attached to the hip with her. Sasori made her a new toy every week, that he would appear before her in his original form of a human appearance. Deidara would make arts and crafts with her that'd make her smile with just the simple things. Kakuzu had acted very differently when he was around her. He would step into a sort of baby talk tone with her, and play more hide and seek while adding numbers in his head about the finances. It became his favorite part of the day. Hidan sometimes ruffed her up a bit by throwing her around playfully and making her squeal with glee a few times. Itachi got her to run around and learn how to talk.

Kisame had researched books on how to raise a girl and what girly things they should do. He started feeling like an uncle and would come out of bookstores with handfuls of baby books a few people would randomly congratulate him on his supposed baby. Then when she came home to be with her mother again, Tobi would look after Sakura during the sleepless nights to hold her and feed her. He liked having the job, that he knew what to do if anything went array with her.

--

Sadly the time she nearing five, Konan refrained having her travel far from home. She was eager to spend ninety-percent of her time with Sakura that Pein had to remind her a few times that they were needing to give Sakura away. "We can't keep her. By the time she's five; Konan, we have to let her go. She will live a life safe from us that she will grow into a human being worth knowing. If she were raised here, she will be prone to violence and act irrationally to every situation. When the time comes we will come back for her because she chooses to be one of us not because she was forced to be." he argued. Konan fell to tears on her knees. She was tired of arguing to keep Sakura, "She'll be five in a few weeks, Pein...I'm not ready.." she breathed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hidden Secrets.**

The morning had come for when the day Sakura turned five. Zetsu arrived before the dawn carrying a small little book about flowers. "We never had you babysit her, Zetsu, what's with the gift?" Pein questioned. Zetsu answered, "**She sweet and tasty like a flower, **so I got her a book to show she is prettier than all the flowers in the world." He slowly walked towards Pein to hand him the small book. "I know you never had me look after her, but she was always so nice to me during the meetings. **So just take the damn book.**"

He faded into the ground and blended into a nearby tree in their front lawn. Pein acknowledged this and took a deep breath. "Forgive me for today, Sakura." he whispered. Tobi walked up from behind him and said, "I know they haven't met me yet, but I need to tell you this. It seems our members have come very attached to her. They know today is the day, so be careful if one of them uses a jutsu on Sakura to deceive us when we give her away. They won't take it as kindly as I hoped. Zetsu is clueless as to why we never sent her out being babysat by him. I mean, he would eat her for just crying!"

Pein nodded and couldn't say a word in regards to his daughter. This was the hardest thing he had to do. Even Konan was being watched in case she deceived Sakura into hiding. "I understand what needs to be done. This is our last day with her, so I will have a nice lunch with her and the Akatsuki." Pein left the room to find Konan standing up against a wall. "Are you alright?" he questioned in a whisper. She looked over at him and nodded, they had discussed not to argue the situation. For this was Sakura's last day.

The two walked over to Sakura's room as Tobi went back into his hidden room to slumber for the day. This would hurt him as well, but he was doing the best for little Sakura.

--

Sakura had been playing with the new puppets and toys from Sasori. She didn't understand what chukra strings were, so she moved all their joints with her hands. She was playing out a scene with her toys. The girl doll had long purple hair with bright hideous blue eyes that Sakura adored. Then her white bunny would enter the scene with his ears bent back and his chest puffed up to indicate he was proud. "Oh, hello dere Mr. Rabbit! I was making flowers for Zetzeee!" Sakura voiced. She had the rabbit look at the blocks with flowers drawn on them and said, "Dey're ugly. You call those flowers?"

Then she dropped the rabbit and grabbed a male doll looking close to Hidan's figure, "I dink dey are butt-ugly-crap!" She dropped him and grabbed another figure looking close to Itachi, "Grr. Flowers stink!"

By the time she reached Kisame's doll figure, she had him say, "Flowers are pretty, and dey love the sun, and they love the rain."

"Sakura, what are you doing up so early?" Konan entered the room to look down at her. She saw the blocks with flowers drawn on them and the toys of dolls looking like the Akatsuki members. "Those are pretty flowers, Sakura." she chimed. Sakura grinned and showed her the purple haired doll, "Kissy gave me this one. Hidan says she's ugly but I dink she's pretty. Even Kakuzu said she has potential...which I don't know what that means, but it must be good, right?"

Konan smiled and bent down to be at Sakura's level of sight. "You didn't answer my first question." Konan said. Sakura giggled, and answered, "I couldn't sleep. Today I turn **FIVE**," she held out her hand to indicate the numbers on her fingers. "And all my big brothers get to come to my birthday party!" "Sakura, they're not your brothers. They're family friends." Konan corrected. Sakura ignored this and asked, "Will daddy come too?"

Pein entered the room to answer that, "Of course I will. But you have to behave to have everyone come." he instructed. Sakura stood up and bowed half way to her father to show respect. That was what she was taught from Tobi. "Thank you daddy." she smiled. "Sakura, today we're not going to be playing with toys. You'll be learning a lot of lessons today. So be on your best behavior" He demanded. Sakura did her half bow again and left the room to follow Pein and Konan into a different one. She was given a new dress to wear for the day, and a traveling cloak. They didn't tell her what the cloak was for, so they hung it up next to the door for them to need it later on.

They had her sit down in a chair, to thoroughly instruct the conditions of the city, Amegakure that was being lead by a man called Hanzo. They explained to her they were in the middle of a civil war, and the conditions the people suffered. Of course she didn't understand any of it, but they when they were finished, they told her she would be sent away to avoid her being held as hostage or killed. Then placed a memory jutsu on her to cover what they said. "When the time comes the seal will open and she will remember our words."

Author's Note: please review and tell me what you think! I completely forgot about Zetsu earlier in the story so I added him. Lol.


	4. Chapter 4

**Goodbye My Hopeless Dream**

When the afternoon arrived, the Akatsuki arrived. Tobi remained hidden from the group the entire time. But Sakura was the happiest five year old in the world. Kisame had made her the biggest cake she had ever seen. And every present was the most beautiful. But by the time the meal was done, Konan had pulled Itachi aside, and asked him quietly. "Is Konoha a safe place for Sakura? Pein and I were thinking of villages we could take Sakura to..." "That would be the best choice." he whispered.

Hours later, the party was over and Sakura was the happiest little girl in the world. Pein had sent Kisame and Itachi to Konoha for research. When really Itachi was there to find a family that was desperate for a child.

When they reported back days later, Konan and Pein had put everything Sakura was given into boxes. They were making Sakura think they were moving. "Alright little one, we're going to search for homes, why don't you come with us?" Pein asked. Sakura smiled and held his hand to follow wherever he would go. She didn't get to say her goodbyes to anyone, for the Akatsuki were gone and distracted with the civil war movements appearing in the Rain country. The two didn't walk far and were greeted with Konan by the front gate of their home. "Shall we begin?" she stated. Then the three vanished in thin air to arrive outside the border of their village. Pein had lifted Sakura off her feet and around his waist. He held her on his side like that as they walked towards their destination. Konan didn't say a word unless Sakura pointed to an object asking what it is. "That's an Ume tree, they bloom several weeks ahead of the Sakura trees." "I have a tree?" Sakura grinned. The rain had come back from the dark clouds above and they continued onwards into the deeper parts of the rain forest. "Yes, but they don't originate here. The Ume tree was planted there by the villagers. The Sakura tree's aren't around here, but they are the fairest blossoms in the land." Konan chimed.

Sakura was memorized by the beauty they walked through. She had seen tropical snakes here and there hanging from the vines as an illusion to their prey. Even a few deer that were jumpy and frail. It took an entire day to get through the dense forest that the trees started turning into bamboo. Sakura had fallen asleep, and Konan and Pein decided to begin running at a fast pace to avoid hidden shinobi outside the borders of the Rain country.

"Pein..." Konan whispered. "Not now Konan. We have to or she will end up dead or used against us." When they finally arrived at the border of Fire Country, Pein and Konan had to begin using part of their chukra to stay hidden from shinobi. Sakura hadn't woken up till Pein and Konan were 40 miles away from Konoha. "Did we find a house yet?" she grumbled. She was still sleepy and started rubbing her eyes in annoyance. "Go back to sleep my little one." Pein cooed. Konan came up to Sakura and lifted a small jar under the girl's nose. It caused Sakura to suddenly close her eyes and fall back asleep. "I've scouted the area and so far we're in the clear to go further." she reported. Her body started to come back together has pieces of fluttering paper butterflies pulled back into her skin.

"Can..Can I hold her?" Konan whispered. She held her arms out wanting to carry Sakura the rest of the way. "Alright." he breathed and gently lifted Sakura off his hip and shoulder to hand her to Konan. Konan embraced the little girl with so much affection. She held the girl's head with her hand and led it to a comfortable part of her shoulder that Sakura would fall asleep easily to. Then kissed Sakura's hands and cheek to hold the rest of Sakura in a tight embrace as they began to take off into a run. They jumped from branches of the tree's to travel at a faster rate. Konan's tears blurred her vision a few times as she clutched Sakura tighter to her chest. Pein had been running ahead of her in case they were attacked head on, he would protect the two with his life. "Goodbye my hopeless dream...my little Sakura...my little girl..." Konan breathed. Her tears ran down her cheeks and onto Sakura's hair and shoulder's. Her was hurting after each breath that by the time they arrived a mile away from Konoha, Konan could hardly breath and see anything around her.

She clutched Sakura close to her body in tears and began humming a soft lullaby that Sakura had always slept to if she were ever scared of hurt. The hymns of the lullaby were soft and painful that when they reached Pein's ears, he clutched his fists and held back the pain escaping his chest and soul. "Konan..." He could barely speak or feel anything remotely close to a human. He was numb. Konan stepped past Pein and gently set Sakura down against a the softest tree she could find. She placed large leaves and soft pine needles across the ground for Sakura to lay upon as she lifted Sakura again and set her down into a fetal position on the ground.

She looked back at Pein in tears. His reaction was mute, he looked away from her and began looking at the sky and the tree's around them. His fists were shaking against his body as he forced himself to hold back everything. Konan bent down next to Sakura and stroked the little girl's soft pink hair around her little ear. "Shall we begin?" Konan muttered. Pein nodded and gave Konan space to proceed with the genjutsu. Konan placed her fingers delicately together then formed hand symbols as fast as she could. The ground around Konan shook as she concentrating the symbols towards Sakura's head. When she was done she caught up with Pein and clutched his hand as tight as she could. He leaned over towards her and held her face in his other hand. "She will be safe. The past four years will disappear for her. I know it was hard for you to perform such a jutsu on her, but we needed to. She would have been used as a heavy source of information against us." he explained. Konan didn't say a word as the two left little Sakura alone in the woods. "Love...I love you..." Konan breathed into the wind. It had been meant for Sakura as she held back her tears.

Author's Note: the lullaby I had Konan hum, was the lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth. He would see it on the soundtrack to hear it. It's very sad and appropriate for what Konan is going through.


	5. Chapter 5

**Faded Thoughts**

Sakura opened her eyes to see the forest leaves drip from over her face upon a tree branch. It had rained and she was scared. She looked around from where she had been lying down, and saw no one was nearby. "Mommy?" she called aloud. No one answered. She stood up and looked around again. "Mommy?" she called again. Something answered. It was a low growling coming behind large bushes nearby. "MOMMY!" she shouted and ran towards the sound. She kept screaming, "MOMMY!" till the growl stopped. A very large figure lifted itself over the bushes and peered down at her. "..." Sakura stood completely still and stared up at the fur covering the stranger. Suddenly teeth shot from it's jaw and it snarled in a hungrily way! Sakura's eye's widened in fear, and suddenly turned around and began running away from the large furry animal. She kept thinking of coloring book pictures of animals that matched the title of this animal. _Squirrel? Dog? _she questioned herself. Then she remembered the pacific drawing Deidara had drawn brown. _BEAR!_ Her thoughts screamed! She ran as fast as her little feet could carry. Weaving through bushes and tree trunks, trying to divert the large bear. She screamed as she ran, causing her to run out of breath a few moments. She didn't notice she had been running in the direction of a large gate. She came to a halt when she reached the gate.

Luckily her screams were heard by a ninja who ran towards her and saw the bear coming up from behind her. Quick in reaction his fingers were swift in hand symbols to reveal a large fireball blowing from his mouth. Sakura was in awe as she watched the fireball travel over her head and towards the bear. The bear snarled and growled and ran from sight into the woods. The ninja looked down at her and smiled. There was something completely familiar about him. Then his eyes glowed a scarlet red, reflecting what she recognized. His sharingan. "Itachi?" she whispered. He smirked and held his hand out to her, "Come, little one. Let's find you a home." The reason she didn't recognize him at first was because he hadn't been wearing the large Akatsuki cloak. He was wearing a shirt with a high collar and white shorts. The villager's acknowledged him as he walked by and waved. Sakura looked around in a daze to see people smiling and laughing. This was strange to her. She had grew up seeing serious looks and hardly any laughter. "Where's mommy?" she whispered.

Itachi looked down at her as he walked next to her and chuckled, "Let's just find you a home for now. Your mother will be back." The way he said the last part meant something strange to her. His tone carried a far off agreement that meant a lie or lost hope. At her age she couldn't figure that part out just yet, so she nodded her head and walked quietly next to Itachi. She was trained to behave in public from what she learned of her tall friends in the Akatsuki. They always had her stay quiet and hidden. She even remembered when she was younger that she had hidden inside their cloaks next to their chests. Just their heartbeat kept a rhythm-lullaby of sleep to her. But that slumbering lullaby would stop whenever she heard sounds of arguing finances and patience. Hidan was the worst to be carried by. She remembered how his chest would rise faster as his voice grew louder and bitter near Kakuzu. It was annoying to sleep to because his movements were never steady. Once she listed through her memories she started thinking of the near future as they walked.

Her mind wandered into the fantasy of her friends and smiled at hoping they would come with her mother as well. That there would be a wonderful greeting from all of them and would say they missed her horribly. This hope was what kept her daydreaming through the whole walk till they reached a door. She didn't remember entering the building in the first place.

A Man opened the door and greeted for the both of them to enter. Itachi gave a respectable bow that was followed by Sakura. He held her hand and walked in to look up at the third hokage. "Sir, this girl was abandoned by her mother..." Sakura stopped listening after that. She knew the word abandoned. It was what happened to orphans, and even to Kisame. She remembered Kisame saying how his mother abandoned him because of his features. She started crying and reexamined her body. Did she have a feature her mother left her for? A guard by the door mumbled to his friend, "That girl has a large forehead." and snickered at the view. Sakura froze from hearing those words. _Is that why mom left? Is that why daddy ended the birthday party? _She started traveling through memories of hidden body language from her parents that she didn't notice till now. Some of them were over exaggerated by the idea of her large forehead. She created images of her parent's looking down at her and appearing disappointed because of her large forehead.

By the time Itachi had stopped speaking to the third hokage, Sakura was being lead towards an empty room down the hall of the hokage's office. She started telling herself she was going to an orphanage. And that her parent's left her because of her large forehead. The tears wouldn't stop and Itachi left her in the room with one last hug before he said goodbye. He didn't reassure her or say anything more to her. He wasn't the type to do so in the first place. She began to sit there and look around the room. This left her feeling completely alone. She waited for days in that room. Every now and then a family would come in and see her then leave. It was never the same family twice. She covered her face with her hair thinking it was her forehead that made people go away. Then one day out of the blew a little girl entered her room by accident. She looked over at Sakura and smiled. "Hi do you wanna play?" she giggled.

Her hair was a sunshine blond and pulled back into a pony tail. Her eyes had an innocent glow when she walked towards Sakura. "What do you want to play?" Sakura asked. She felt desperate for a friend. Just sitting around and sleeping on a moth eaten cot for days was depressing. Now someone offered to play with her and this excited her even more! The girl introduced herself as Ino before performing an elaborate imaginary game where the girls were princesses from a foreign land called The Gumdrop. Ino gave Sakura such imagination that Sakura completely forgot everything that mattered. The names of her friends and her parent's faces..their jutsu had worked it's charm.

--

Itachi had arrived on the border of the Fire Country to meet up with a surprise guest standing in front of him. It was Konan standing there alone. "Are you alright?" he questioned. She looked down and replied, "Did the jutsu work? I had her try and forget everyone...but that would only happen till she found a small part of happieness...did that happen?" she whispered. She looked up at Itachi waiting to see his reaction. He looked back at her with dark empty black eyes and answered, "She found a friend recently. When I left Konoha, she didn't recognize me when I walked by...she doesn't remember anything. I am sure of it." Konan clenched her fists and breathed, "Did a family take her in? Pein thinks there was already a family waiting for her..."

He walked towards her and whispered back, "She will be happy Konan. A family has adopted her and has treated her with the utmost power of love she can receive. You can let her go now.." He left her side in a gust of wind. She didn't even have to look up to know he was gone, and began walking into the forests of the Fire Country. She parted herself into trillions of pieces of butterflies and soared towards the little village of Konoha. In two days she had reached the home Sakura had lived in. The butterfly she had watching her was sitting on the window seal seeing Sakura fall asleep into her warm bed holding her blankets in an embrace. Minutes later Konan's body appeared by the window. She looked down at her again and last but not least, had her chance to hum the lullaby through the glass. Thankfully no one noticed this motherly bond on the last night Konan would ever see her little Sakura. She placed her palm on the window glass and closed her eyes. She whispered a short mantra into the air and let the tears stream down her cheeks. Not being able to bring herself to say more for her little girl, she had secretly made sure to always check up on her throughout the years. This was her way of never letting go..

author's note: I know it's a short story, but it was meant as a story that was full of motherly love. :) I hope new mother's are that driven to care for their children. Konan did her best for Sakura. I hope you liked this ending. oo PLEASE REVIEW!


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